Describe the aim of this project in 10 words.
To develop new footwear devices that improve balance and walking.
What have you discovered so far?
Sensory cues from the soles of the feet are important for balance. Over the last decade, I have been exploring whether innovative textured shoe insoles, designed to stimulate foot skin receptors, have the capacity to enhance balance and walking ability and reduce the risk of falling in clinical populations.
My previous studies, conducted in the elderly and adults with neuromuscular disease (multiple sclerosis) reported promising findings.
For people with pathological loss of foot sensation, such as diabetic peripheral neuropathy, textured shoe insoles may provide a surrogate source of sensory information, which can help alleviate balance and movement impairments that can underpin falls and injury.
What aspect of this research excites you the most?
My research has the potential to identify a new, simple, inexpensive treatment, which may be therapeutically beneficial to people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, who experience problems with their standing balance, walking ability or frequently fall.
It is possible that novel textured shoe insoles could provide an additional method, which is complementary to, and may help advance current rehabilitation programs for people with loss of foot sensory function secondary to type 2 diabetes. Improving balance and walking performance could have a major impact on an individuals’ health, well-being and quality of life, enabling them to live independently for as long as possible.
What’s your Holy Grail – the one thing you’d like to achieve in your career?
I aspire to pioneer the development of new treatment devices, such as shoe insoles, that are accessible to a wide range of people, and which help alleviate balance and walking problems that fuel major population health challenges such as physical activity, falls and injury.
Importantly, I would like to discover a single rehabilitation technique such as a footwear device, which is effective and transferrable across a multitude of patient groups – including older adults and people with debilitating metabolic, neurological and musculoskeletal conditions.
What is your biggest research hurdle?
Throughout my research career, a recurring challenge has been identifying and recruiting enough participants into exploratory studies and clinical trials. While stringent participant inclusion and exclusion criteria are essential, this often comes at the cost of attracting sufficient people deemed eligible to take part in research.
How long before your work impacts patient care?
The current clinical trial in people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy will be the first to explore the long-term effects of wearing textured shoe insoles on balance and walking in this clinical population.
As such, the findings will be exploratory in nature, and primarily used to inform larger-scale randomised controlled trials of shoe insoles. It will be important to conduct subsequent studies, which aim to refine the shoe insole design features to enhance wearer comfort and usability, prior to their potential commercialisation.
Who has inspired you?
My two grandmothers played a major role in my life. Watching them decline and become more dependent as a result of natural ageing processes and having experienced injurious falls exposed me to the harsh reality of old age. This personal experience fuels my research, which I hope can assist, even if just in a small way, to make the lives of older adults and people with chronic conditions a little easier.
What other interests help create work-life balance for you?
In my ‘younger’ days, I was an avid triathlete and have competed in three Ironman events around the world, including Lanzarote (Canary Islands) and Cairns. Nowadays, I enjoy a more leisurely swim, bike or run, without the pressure of preparing to race! Exercise is a great stress-reliever.
The research is funded by a grant from Diabetes Australia.